Zach Vineyard

So many Kebabs…

The last thing that I saw last night as my eyes closed without my permission, was Dan hunting mosquito’s with an intensity of a patient hunter, knowing his prey, and at the right moment, bouncing on the bed to smack wildly at the ceiling. It’s an ancient art.

I have to say that the best Freedom Fries I ever had are without a doubt in France.

Marseille was a beautiful port city that was full of magic and wonder and smelled like a sulfur mine.

And on the 5th day we did relax, because we were tired and their was a Macgyver marathon on in french.

On the one day that we were in Marseilles we went over all of Dan’s old stomping grounds. He stomped over a lot of ground back in the day. We saw where he lived, where he laughed, where he played, and where he was accosted.

We saw the freezing beach and then tried our hand at the metro. We tried to get tickets at the automatic machines, but this nice gypsy lady gave us each one for free when nobody was looking. It wasn’t until we passed the barrier that evidently we were supposed to pay her two euros for the free tickets(more than the actual cost). Which we didn’t have, we didn’t have the small change, but gave her what we had. It didn’t feel great to screw over someone trying to manipulate us, but it felt pretty good.

That night we tried to find a place to eat bouillabaisse, and it’s funny how fast Karma struck, because the meal was akin to the worst dining experience I’ve ever had. Snooty waiters? Check! unclean utensils? Check! finding fantastic mystery prizes in the soup that look like and feel like fish bones? Double Check!

We should have gotten up and left when half the restaurant did over something that happened, but the other half stayed, and we really didn’t want to find another restaurant, so we now have this great bad dining story.

Dan was feeling down, because we have yet to eat a good sit down meal in France. that wouldn’t happen till we left the next day for Nice.

The train ride was about 2 hours and it was all along the coast, and you could see the ocean almost the entire time. There was a couple of American travelers, and I was so disheartened to find out that they were the loud ugly stereotype, because we had to hear them talk about how great they were almost the entire trip. The guy was the kinda jerk that thinks everything different about France is stupid, and falls asleep listening to Kanya West at full volume. The girl was the kinda girl who likes being with guys like that.

We arrived in Nice and made our way to the hotel, Dan keeps commenting on how clean everything is. I keep looking out for the next Kebab place.

Dan wanted to go out and see where he stayed by himself, so I did what any brother would do and volunteered to stay behind at the hotel and watch TV.

Dan came back with sodas, baguettes and Nutella and we had a light meal,we then proceeded to take a small ten hour nap.

We did Cannes the next day.

Grammar a little better, still, kinda winging it..

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I’m writing this from our hotel in Marseilles, after they have just won the national soccer championship. The main rally is right under our window and I feel something akin to a war correspondent.  It’s 4:00 pm here but something tells me that they are going to be going on long into the night.

I don’t even think that a marathon would have prepared us for the amount of exertion that we have been, well exerting. We’ve been walking miles a day with 30 pound backpacks full of equipment, and this whole time we thought we were traveling light? We could have taken taxis everywhere, but then we would never have seen the Parisian streets or experienced walking up on the museum of Rodin and military hospital that is freaking amazing out of nowhere.

We made it to the effiel tower at  about 9 in the morning on the east lawn. It was perfect we had the perfect shot, what wasn’t so perfect? My hair and outfit. Nowhere fit for commercial photography or even a great picture! I had to use hairspray to try to calm my hair down and instead with the trek and the wind by the time we arrived I looked like a wild man. So be it.

I’m pretty sure that we got at least one decent one, per traveler.

The tower of Eiffel is much bigger than you think it is, its dizzying to look at and is a sight to behold. It is also jam backed with tourists waiting to go up on line. We walked underneath and I got a picture of me touching one of the bases, but we decided that we would rather see the arc de triumph than wait two hours to get up.

The entire time that we are at the major sights there is a bunch of peddlers pushing tiny effil towers of different metals. They were laid back at the lourve but here they were insistent that we have one. I got tired of it and asked Dan how to say, “oh, for free?” in French. Next time a guy came up I said it and it worked like a charm, the guy got frustrated and just left.

I still wouldn’t recommend doing it, but it worked in this case.

We had to find a bench as we were dead tired, and just a tad lost. There was like 7 different ways we could have gone, but the way we went ending up being the local market. It was awesome! everything fresh and different, and what I noticed was that the people selling the fresh fish or meat or bread, weren’t just sellers but the producers of the items being sold, so they were proud and adamant about their products.

Dan got some strawberries from France, that were for the first time in my life the color strawberry and not red. Delicious.

I purchased these huge bottles of coca cola and coca cola light and we had lunch under the Arch de Triumph. War would suck, but marching off under and then returning victorious under the arch would be an amazing feeling none the less.

We then walked  down the champs de Elysee, one word,”posh spice”. lots of shopping, We made it down to the trees and Dan got a handfull of sand to take home.

We made it to the Luxor obelisk, and thought that it was cool, and then we moved on. It wasn’t till we were on the train to Marseille that I read that it was the location that 1,100 people were beheaded, plus Marie Antoinette and the King. I’m glad I didn’t know that at the time.

The gardens were green squares with sculptures in the middle. This is all I can remember because I was so tired by this time. my feet were exhausted.

We passed the lourve again, and on the way home we walked over the river siene. I got a little painting from an artist of the arch de triumph and then a picture with him.

We headed back and Dan got an old book from the most ecletic man I ever saw, He had a tiny shop and the books were piled in stacks, but he knew were every book was by heart. I had to get out because I was feeling claustrophobic, and just a tad unwelcome.

We tried to rest for a few minutes before we went out. Dan wanted a real meal in Paris, but everywhere we went was closed for lunch. They take a rest in the middle of the day, and then open back up to go late into the night. After the third attempt we just got more kababs, and vowed to go out later that night.

Didn’t happen

Once our heads laid down, we didn’t even go out for more kababs, luckily I learned from previous nights and stashed baguettes around the hotel room. So we didn’t go hungry when we woke up at 2 in the morning.

We left for Marseilles at 5:20 and tried to take the metro, yeah that didn’t happen either. You need a pass and a badass attitude to ride that with seedy characters that early.

We were going to walk it, but Dan waved down a taxi, and it was cheaper just to take the taxi then the metro? go figure, it was also the first time I’ve been in a mercedes? go figure.

15 minutes later we were at the the terminal and Dan told the taxi driver to keep the change, the driver got out helped us with our luggage and bid us a bon voyage!

3 hours later were in Marseilles, the day after they win the National Soccer Championship. It’s akin to winning the super bowl, I’ve been told, but we meet three other expatriate travelers who are stuck because there is no train tickets out available.

And guess where our hotel is? right at the focal point of the celebration, we actualy saw ourselves (or our hotel) on tv later that night. It was our hotel and people were standing in an apartment on our floor looking out, at the same time that we were, and so the odds are very high that it was us.

The hotel is ollllllld! there have been upgrades, but you can tell that its a remodel from some old mansion, as the ceiling is like 20 feet high, and they split it into 5 different rooms. What really makes it old is the plumbing as there were high winds that made the plumbing back track a little and now everything smells like smoke bombs.

You get use to it.

Now Dan is videoing the sunrise as I’m typing this up.

next Baguettes, with a dream of more kebabs…

Celebration from our hotel room

Once again, grammar…sorry

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We have three hours to kill before we have to catch the metro to take our train to marseille. I can’t believe that this trip is only a third over.

Honestly after the flight in first class if we just turned right around I would have thought the money and time well spent.

It’s day 4 but I still need to talk about 2,3

We awoke on the second day much like today, unsynced with the world around us. Everyone asleep, us bright eyed and bushy talesd. FYI dan doesn’t like you calling him bushy taled for any reason.

We walked to Notre dame at 5:30 because we couldn’t stand it inside anymore, and it was just us and the green litle elves that take out the trash and spray down the sidewalks. We got videoscapes and photos in front of the notre dame. my impression. I wanted to play the game called sanctuary where you run in and scream that. Dan didn’t get it and I didn’t have the time or footnotes to explain why thats funny to do. Dans probably right.

It was a cool morning and we walked all around the building taking video and pictures, the last shot we got was on the bridge of the river looking at the building. On the bridge were hundreds of keyed locks locked to the railing of the bridge with names and dates, of people who wanted to say I was here. I scribbled out one and wrote my name over it, it felt good to leave apart of yourself there.

One thing Dan has noticed about Paris is how irritable I get when I’m hungry. We made it to one of the bologeries that dan had mark down, and waited for the doors to open from the wonderful smells coming from inside.

Dan ordered two pans de chocolate and a milfoy . The milfoy was excellent but they gave us crossaints instead ( which were still excellent) we went down a little to a  pastry shop that just opened and got the most decadent food I ever have eaten. We got a baguette and headed out for the lourve. We just wandered as we had time before it opened and pastries to eat. It was amazing everywhere you looked was another amazing building.

One of my best memories was eating those pastries over the river siene.

We didn’t have our map on us but we new the lourve was in a general direction, so when we came upon the amazing square it was as if we were discovering it, and it was literally the first time that my mind was blown away by the majesty and epicness of it all.

Seeing the royal palace that now holds the worlds most amazing history is highly recommended if you dont have anything else going on.

We found that it was indeed the lourve and that a line was forming to get in. We didn’t know how lucky we where to get in so early as the buses showed up and there was a massive line forming behind us, so dan didn’t get caught up in it, but I suddenly felt this sense of urgency once they started letting people in. Suddenly it was a mad dash to the mona Lisa, dan grabbed the map while I made my way over to get the tickets. I looked on the map and said there under a big M, and we were off.

Running is expressly forbidden, but speed walking is evidently well tolerated. We started passing by these amazing works of art and history, stopping people with there siren song as they lost the eye on the prize.

The main problem was that the lourve is massive , it would take a week to see everything, and a lifetime to appreciate it. But we finally made it and were one of the first ones. We saw it took our picture and then left to find a seat. So tired is all I remember, after that.

As feeling came back to our legs and minds we noticed the dates of the paintings , 1492 1300,s but the building itself is still the most amazing thing. My breath was taken away again when we walked in a room again and saw the cieling of all things.

I now know how I want my bathroom decorated.

Since our tickets were good for the day we came up with the plan to go back and rest then eat at this little restaurant and the see more of the lourve.

Which we did. The cafe was picturesque and the menu in French so dan ended up ordering for us and then suddenly I was on Paris fear factor as I had to eat snails as an appetizer and it pretty much lingered the entire meal. They tasted like garlic and butter, they didn’t taste bad, but the imagery that I was eating snails never could be masked. I’ve seen French people eat and order and they never order snails, I think they invented the dish and called it a delicacy just to se if we’d eat it and then laugh. It’s the longest running practical joke.

After that we went and videod the siene with waterbuses going under the bridge and the dan saw it. The weather had Ben overcast the entire time we’ve been here so when the skies cleared A little we were able to see the effiel tower, there, so close this entire time.

We went back to the lourve and saw more statues and napoleand apartments, it was as if he told his decorator, you know what gawdy looks like? Well I want that times a 1000.

Still amazing!

We stayed till closing. Couldn’t see it all. Dan got some night shots on the way home.

We went to sleep early so we could get to the effiel tower early.

Exhausted

I apologize for the grammar, but just trying to get this out of my head and I’m just writing from the hip so to speak….So yeah, this is what I got.

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Its 3:31 in the morning and which is fine if I was in Vegas, but Paris is a city that likes it’s beauty rest. The second we arrived me and dan felt instantly under dressed. Even the taxi drivers drove mercedes benz and wore armani suits?

perhaps it wasn’t that instant, but the instant the we were upgraded to first class. If i ever become a money hungry dictator I will forever trace it back to that instant. I kept asking Dan, why us? It made no sense? Dan just said,” remember were rich millionaires from the Ozarks. We would have totally blended in too if the stewards didn’t see us taking pictures of every meal, and if the redneck in me hadn’t taken every freebie that they had.

The meals were amazing, but the kicker was that you got your own individual tv with new releases. I was smart enough not to watch the ones they are mass showing to the herd in the back, so that when we join them once again. I will have some semblance of joy.

I drank so much tomato juice…

Which led me to joining a very specific type of mile high club, one reserved for those that have a difficult time going to the bathroom at 35000 feet and 500 miles an hour.

We took a bus to to our hotel in the inner city of paris, which was a mistake in a way, because the first class treatment came to a horrible stop. One thing that stroked my preconceptions was the class division from the airport to downtown. I almost let out an Adam injustice cry as I felt I had been lied to of how beautiful the city is (graffiti and rag tag buildings all along the highway) but once you crossed out of the forbidden zone, it was night and day. beautiful, amazing buildings. So beautiful, that we completely missed our stop and kept driving further and further away from our hotel. It got to the point that I had to push the next stop button, (which is akin to genocide evidently as everyone turned around angry) we found ourselves an hours walk away and no map.

So we got a map

One thing I can tell you is that geocaching with the kids at work have made my map skills off the hook. We were lost, but we were going in the right direction, and it was so much fun traveling the back streets, and alleyways that most tourists never get to see. (probably, not so fun at night)

Our hotel is right were the action is, which is great as we just rounded the blocks to get our bearings, and we were encircled around amazing things. We ate dinner of kebabs and sat on this quaint little fountain, that makes  every fountain I ever saw pail in comparison. From this vista we could see Nortre Dame, and the Seine River. We then got nutella crepes for dessert that were made in thirty seconds. I’m going to try and get a mexican crepe tomorrow ( I have all these big plans).

Dan wanted to keep walking around, but I was beat, I felt bad for suggesting going back to the hotel, but not that bad, I was dead. I was also carrying all the heavy equipment.

But now were fresh and ready to take on the day…I think were going to the lourve and notre dame. But first bread!

I can’t think of a tagline better than just leaving it as is. Anyone?

When someone finds something that makes them passionate, I am 100% behind them. I’ve found that that is the only effective way to get anything done in life. An idea that burns in the very center of an individual will make all other ideas pail in comparison, as that energy permeates the air infecting all that stand within range.

My last client had this passion. He told me what he wanted and all I said was, “Absolutely!”

Who are we?

We are what makes us feel empowered, we are what gives us strength and stability.

This was one of the most content men I have ever known.

Best part was that he was a career lifeguard.

If you were to look at me would you say that I was a risk taker?

Yet I am, I am the Past Date Milk Drinker, the Cheeto on the Floor Rationalizer, the Utah Freeway Driver.

I am the Obscure Dinner Eater!

I didn’t realize exactly how big a risk this was until I was sitting down in an open seat in The Spicy Thai Restaurant. In a moment of clarity I realized that I had just committed myself to a possible  evening of  awkward conversation, bad food, and the ever gnawing feeling that I was one comment away from desecrating someones most cherished childhood memory (Again, I’m sorry Cassandra).

A while ago, I stumbled upon a group of people called Obscure Dinner Night that would meet up monday nights for food and conversation, but the location was only announced a few hours before on twitter with an open invitation for anyone to come. I thought it was a fun approach to eating out and getting to know people, but not fun enough to overcome my busy schedule and even more so, my own insecurities.

What changed?

Unfortunately, I was told that afternoon that an old friend of mine had passed away at the age of 24 while in his sleep. He had a seizure and never woke up. In that one moment all he had dreamed, planned and waited to do was unfolded to me as a reflection of my own dreams and plans, and that I should no longer wait.

Thankfully, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was surrounded by people who were living in the moment, and possibly taking their lives into their own hands as Thai is not for the weak.

I was also pleased and horrified to find out that I was only the second person to ever walk in cold turkey (without knowing anyone). It had helped to think that everyone else was a twitter follower as well, and would be just as uncomfortable, but no they were all good friends, and good people as it took me very little time to relate and get in on conversations. By the end I was resolved to go back next week.

Before I reached home I had three followers on twitter and a story to remind myself to never let my insecurities stand in the way of doing what I wanted to do.

If anyone has been waiting to go, GO!

I’ll be there…and I promise that I’ll be just as nervous as you are.

In class we were asked to make an image of a nightmare we once had.

The hard part was when everyone laughed.

I still hesitate when I pass Kool-aid in the store, even Hawaiian punch is pushing it.

The accompanying song should be “Hungry like a wolf”, by Duran Duran, not “Who let the dogs out?”